South African champion Soft Falling Rain dies aged nine

Soft Falling Rain: the late son of National Assembly was unbeaten in South Africa

Soft Falling Rain, who was an exceptional two-year-old in South Africa, has died aged just nine after a severe bout of colic at Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift.

The son of National Assembly had expected to cover a full book of mares this season, his fourth year at stud.

Bred by Highlands Farm Stud, Soft Falling Rain was unbeaten in four starts at two in the colours of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum. His biggest victory coming in the Grade 1 SA Nursery, after which he was subsequently crowned Equus champion two-year-old colt.

The Mike de Kock-trained horse was then transferred to Dubai, where he recorded a hat-trick of wins, including the Group 3 UAE 2,000 Guineas and the Group 2 Godolphin Mile. He was then transferred to Britain, where he finished second to Gregorian in the Hungerford Stakes before returning to winning ways in the Group 2 Joel Stakes.

Soft Falling Rain retired having won eight of his 13 starts and earned over £740,000 in prize-money.

Soft Falling Rain was retired to Slack's Wilgerbosdrift in the Western Cape of South Africa in 2015 and proved popular with breeders, covering full books throughout his brief spell at stud.

Soft Falling Rain's debut crop of yearlings were well received at sales around South Africa this year. He was the leading first-crop sire by aggregate at the 2018 Cape Premier Yearling Sale, where his sons and daughters grossed R4 million (£205,160/€230,850), including a R1.4m colt bought by Shadwell.

His stock also proved in high demand at the 2018 Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale in Johannesburg, where he was the fourth leading sire overall, with his yearlings fetching a total of R10.295m.